Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the tangential Harry Potter prequel, is a strange beast in several respects, pun completely intended. I regret nothing.
Billed as a look into a time and place unseen in the Potterverse, and written by J.K. Rowling herself, we’re faced with an original film with an original-ish cast doing magical nonsense in 1920s New York City.
Heading up the original cast is Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, the author of one of Harry Potter’s textbooks, as he travels to America for purposes he neglects to clarify. He carries around a TARDIS-esque, magic briefcase that can hold a miniature zoo full of as many fantastic beasts as Warner Bros’ CGI budget will allow. After some whacky misunderstandings, some of the CGI gets loose, whereupon Newt teams up with an ex-Auror (also known as a wizard cop), played by Katherine Waterson, and her mind-reading sister, played by Alison Sudol. The group is also joined by an aspiring Muggle baker, played by Dan Fogler, who winds up becoming the emotional center of the film.
So far, sounds like a fun old time, right? The plot described is genuinely fun, if a bit light, on showing off the magical community of the setting when compared to the detail poured into the Harry Potter saga.
Whenever that is not going on, we’re subjected to a deeply depressing subplot about an Auror, played by Colin Farrell, investigating a series of mysterious muggle (non-magical people) murders. That story involves an abusive witch-hunting foster mother who makes the Dursely family seem downright angelic. When the film cuts to this subplot, everyone’s performances drop down into deep mediocrity, and the atmosphere is dark and brooding, and contrasts badly with the actual fun bits. This is even the plot line that leads to the explosive finale, and the setup for the next four movies. The audience also gets introduced to a character they should have seen before the last few minutes.
Basically, Fantastic Beasts is a deeply flawed watch that really could have used a bit more focus, saving the sequel hooks for the backdrop, and replacing that with a bit more Potter world-building. Heck, what’s here even suffers from the setting shift, as the Potter trio dressed up the Muggle world with some really sharp and biting satire of British life, something you actually wouldn’t notice as a kid.
Harry’s newcomer status lent the Wizarding World a sense of wonder as he and the audience learns the ropes. With that edge gone, Rowling has to fall back on '20s stereotypes, and since the characters are somewhat jaded adults, we have only Dan Fogler’s character to express that same wonder.
The film doesn’t completely fall apart, but the seams are much more apparent with this outing, so save your money for later unless you’re a lifelong Potter fan.
Logan Graham is a junior studying media arts with a focus in games and animation at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What did you think of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? Let him know by emailing him at lg261813@ohio.edu.
